A former General Motors engineer and her husband were found guilty on Friday of conspiring to steal hybrid technology trade secrets for possible use by Chinese carmaker Chery Automobile. Shanshan Du and her husband, Yu Qin, will be sentenced in February.

The election is over, and now, the many investors who were keeping a close eye on the polls know what they're getting (somewhat) in terms of the federal government for the next few years. Here's a look at 21 economic sectors, and what a second Obama term will mean for each of them.

Hurricane Sandy may have closed the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, and possibly longer, but trading will continue on the Big Board electronically, and that means there's still stocks worth watching: Sirius XM Radio, for example.

GM's ill-timed announcement that it will no longer advertise on Facebook should come as no surprise. The site is popular. Its paid ads aren't. Only about 1 in every 2,000 ad impressions on the social media giant received clicks for advertisers.

Not long ago, each time gas prices shot up and car buyers turned to more fuel-efficient models, the Detroit automakers would get hammered. Their lineups favored gas-hogs, and their smaller models left much to be desired. Oh, how times have changed.

U.S. factory output surged in December by the most in year. Stronger demand for business equipment, vehicles and energy offered the most visible evidence that manufacturing has roared back from the depths of the recession. The Fed said Wednesday that manufacturing increased 0.9% in December, the biggest gain since December 2010.

GM made $2.2 billion in North America in the third quarter, but it couldn't expand on that number with earnings abroad. Now the bailed out, revamped and much-improved automaker has to find a way to make Europe profitable -- because the Continent is essential to its global operations.

Before you know it, cars that drive themselves may be available at your local dealership: According to a top GM official, vehicles that "partially drive themselves" will be available in just a few years, with more sophisticated self-driving cars possible by the end of the decade.

Are things really that bad at Ford? You'd think so after its third-quarter earnings report drove its share price down sharply. But despite the tough economic conditions Ford faces, the larger story is that the automaker has become very strong, thanks to its focus on a surprisingly simple plan.

GM is expected to show a sales increase of 15.3% from a year ago when it posts August numbers later this week, according to auto industry research firm Edmunds. That would be an improvement of 30,000 cars and light trucks and would eclipse the unit gains of its smaller rivals.